Which skimmer should I get?

it all goes to the same place...

 

People like to quote that study. I applaud anyone that tries to come up with a way to determine skimmer performance. However, that study has many flaws.

First, DOC are made up of water loving and water hating. The hydrophobic DOC are what skimmers remove and nobody has ever made any claim different. Protiens are water hating and are attracted to the air water interface. That 35% DOC removal number everyone loves to quote is of TOTAL DOCs which a skimmer will never remove.

They used cow poo as their test media. Many manufacturers don't like that but what ever. The skimmers removed 100% of that but nobody likes to tout that number.

They tried to determine which design was better, but could not come up with a answer. Seems thay all performed well... which says that it does not matter. Yet the group in the first study did remove the test media at different rates which does say they some were faster than others and that is an indication of efficiency. The second study had a larger group of skimmers and was the same out come.

I hope they can come up with a way to have a good standardized test of performance.... but we are still waiting.

 

Geeze, any skimmer that uses a power head(s) has very limited abilities. that being said, and as powerman has already stated, sometimes you do get what you pay for. I have four skimmers, venturi based HOB, neddle wheel, mesh wheel, and downdraft.

HOB is a CPR BakPak Dual- it works ok as HOB skimmers go, but I wouldnt use it if I had to buy again, it does a decent job.

Neddle wheel- Coralife 220G- great for the price at this price point, tough to beat- a very good entry level skimmer.

Mesh wheel- eshopps psk-300, an ok skimmer when you replace the crappy pumps eshopps includes. I would not buy from them again.

Downdraft- ETSS- AETech, it beats the pants off of all of the above, but it is pricey- it is a very simple American made product (patented design too)- that works really well.

 

And this supports my argument... unless there is a performance standard, how can you validate any claims that one skimmer is better than another?

Unless you're judging on materials and craftsmanship alone, which WHO cares... I don't have an affinity for my skimmer, it just needs to do it's job.

 

Uh actually... there are a lot of people that care about materials and craftsmanship and I'm one of them. I thought I was allowed to have my own opinion about what matters to me.

As far as validation... well you are at the mercy of relying on sombody else's experience... or you could build your own wealth of experience. I have mine.... AquaC 120, Bubble King Mini 160, Warner Marine K2. After that I have talked to plenty of people that have a ton more than me with many different types and long histories. Some folks you learn not to listen to, some folks you learn to trust. Or you can just sit in a bubble and think what ever you have is the best thing since sliced bread. To each his own.

There is a ton of evidence out there of what works and what doesn't.

 

We're talking about a skimmer not a classic car...

Of course you're entitled to your opinion... I never said you shouldn't be. I can see we look at this differently, and I won't change your mind (nor do I want/ care to).

 

Figured I would tell everyone I went with the Bubble Magus BM-220A. This thread got way out a hand lol.

Bubble Magus BM-220A Protein Skimmer Brand New | eBay

 

^^^;D

That E-Bay retailer is the only one claiming a link to ATB. ATB is known for their tall slender cones compared to others short fat ones. They possibly could buy cones from ATB, but being a Chineese maufacturer it's doubtfull. Bubble Magus is coming out with a higher end line that looks to be the same as Skimz hybrid cone which seems to be coming into fassion these days.

It's plenty of skimmer for your tank though and should do a good job for you.

 

Yea, I didn't buy it solely on the body by atb, i didnt read to much into it, I bought it because of the reviews on bubble magus, it was economical, and was a complete different design than the coral life brands, super skimmer wasn't doin it for me so I figured this would be a good direction.